From his book Dual Citizens, in a chapter titled The Power of Weakness: Why Christianity Works Best as an Underdog, Jason J. Stellman observes:
The difficulty is that most Americans are not used to being in the minority, and when it comes to being underdogs, we’re just plain bad at it. Hence flows the American church’s desire to craft a faith that is relevant and beneficial to the culture around it. Church leaders and members often ask themselves, “If our church were to pack up and leave town, would the community lament its loss and beg the church to stay?” The underlying assumption is that one of the ways to measure a church’s success is by gauging how popular and appreciated it is among those within its city or community. It must be asked, however, whether such an expectation is the result of actual exegesis of Scripture or of confusing the earthly kingdom’s idea of success with that of the heavenly kingdom? In a word, does the question above represent a biblical expectation to lay on the shoulders of the local church? (p. 48, emphasis added)
In a word, the upside down nature of the Kingdom of Christ and of God continues to elude us. Because such is the case, we keep telling ourselves, “What if we were to get a few Hollyhood celebs to convert to the Christian faith, imagine how successful the church would be? We would definitely be received much better by the world!”
Oh, the delusion!
I am preparing a post for my blog that somewhat relates.
It is as if we only have or see one story of success – our own American, Evangelical, “large and in charge” model.
No wonder it is difficult to understand that the churches in the NT were probably 10-50 people (+/-).
When our home church disbanded several years ago, I was struggling with this idea of success. In short, what I learned was that everyone in our chuch over the few years we met grew spiritually and no one was hurt or harmed by our time together.
That, in itself, is success!
John,
Yep! As a church, we’re looking too much to our world culture to define what real “success” is. It’s rather sad.
A word must be said for the transforming power of church in each other’s homes.
I only have two words: “Resident Aliens”. Read it. Learn it. Live it.
Good sir, I do believe you stole the words from my mouth! Resident Aliens definitely fits this.
Gary,
I’m with Elshaddai too.
Outstanding Post! May we learn to follow Jesus into the present and future of His Kingdom. We are the people of God. We are a “new race” of people. Our citizenship in not on this earth. We are in the world but not of it. If I follow Jesus, I’ll live like you’re describing. May your tribe increase.
Gary
http://garyroberts.wordpress.com/
Gary,
Thanks for stopping by and for those words of encouragement.
Yes, may the kingdom tribe increase.
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